The men in my life...

Ok, before you get all excited let me preface this blog with the following dislcaimer: this entry has nothing to do with my romantic endeavors, or more appropriately the lack thereof. Now that we have that out of the way I can proceed....

I have two main men in my life. One has been around for just a little over a year and the other is a more recent addition of about two months or so. In their own respective sphere (one human, one canine), each is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen and I can't help but love them, play with them and want to spoil them. Some of you may know them, but for those who don't....let me introduce you to my boys (from L-R, Hurley & Ian):

We'll start with Ian first as he has been my main squeeze for a little over a year. Despite the fact that my friend April (Ian's mom) and I were convinced that he was a girl before the ultrasound confirmed otherwise, I couldn't be happier with my little guy. And he is definitely all boy...he's rough and tumble and likes to get into everything and play hard. For those of you who know me, I have been afraid of small children (specifically infants) for quite a while. They say that babies and dogs smell fear so I think the feeling was mutual. However, sweet little Ian has been so good putting up with his crazy "tia" and his mom has also been brave enough to allow me to get my feet wet and overcome my baby-phobia. I cherish every chance I get to hold him or play with him or spoil him rotten (my checking account has been suffering I must admit!) But how could you not love this?

Now on to the more recent addition in my life. My friend and roommate Heidi and I are both dog people and fortunately my condo is pet-friendly. Therefore we decided that we wanted to try our hands at raising a puppy. For anyone who has not gone through this experience I must say it can be quite frustrating at times and gives you many opportunities to feel like a complete failure. I also now realize why I don't have any children yet (besides not having a husband of course)...if I can't even handle raising an animal, why on earth would I ever be trusted with a human?

Anyway, at the end of May we found a classified ad and went out to look at some toy poodle puppies. It didn't take long for us to fall in love with one of the puppies and for him to fall in love with us. He practically hurled himself out of the box trying to get to us. Our little Hurley has been mostly a delight ever since. Were it not for the chewing/biting and potty-training issues he'd be a complete delight! Anyway, I am really proud of him because he really has learned a lot and is becoming a well-trained dog at his young age. Not to mention that he is the darn cutest thing you've ever seen. Everywhere we go with him people ooohhh and aaahhh over him. And he just LOVES people...he's great with everyone. You should come and play with him sometime...he's a real hoot! Here's his mug shot when he gets in trouble. But with a face like that you can imagine he never stays in trouble for too long!!

So that's the long and the short of it. These are the men in my life for now...but trust me, there is plenty of love to go around so if you know of a decent guy out there that might want to have a place in my heart along with these two, please drop me a line **shameless plug for getting set up with someone** :)